Hi! I'm Georgiana. Thanks for joining me for another episode of the podcast. My mission is to help you improve your fluency.

Remember that you can get the text of this episode on my website SpeakEnglishPodcast.com

Ok! Let's start!

We will explore opinion genres, where writing is done from a subjective perspective. This perspective can be the author's or the media's opinion. Let's see what they are.

#1 Editorial

Imagine a newspaper reporting on an event and publishing various news articles, reports, and maybe interviews.

This newspaper may publish an "editorial," which expresses the newspaper's opinion or position on the topic covered in the news. It usually reflects the media's ideological stance. An editorial generally doesn't mention the author and is not too long. Typically, it can be found on the first few pages.

#2 Opinion Article

An opinion article is a text that presents the viewpoint of a specific person, like a journalist, politician, or public figure. These articles don't necessarily align with the media's editorial stance. Ideally, diverse media outlets would have different opinion articles, enriching the content and allowing readers to compare different perspectives.

#3 Column

Yes, a column supports buildings, but in journalism, columns are something different, of course 🙂 They are similar to opinion articles but are usually shorter.

Additionally, these have specific authors who write regularly, and usually focuses on topics like politics, sports, or lifestyle. The term "column" comes from arranging narrow vertical sections in old newspapers to save space on printed pages.

#4 Letter to the Editor

This is a common section in many newspapers and magazines where readers can send letters with their opinions, comments, and suggestions about the published articles and topics.

The letter to the editor is a way for people to share their thoughts with the newspaper's editors.

Many times, these letters are written about a specific article in the newspaper or a topic that is currently important to the reader.

I think this practice is becoming less popular because social media has changed how readers share their opinions on news and current topics.

However, this part is still important for people who like to send their comments privately or directly to the newspaper's editors instead of posting them on social media. Some individuals don't use social media, so writing letters to the editor can be their only way to communicate.

Now, let’s practice.